Updated at 10.10am

Gale winds reaching Force 8 on the Beaufort Scale bellowed through Malta in the early hours of Tuesday morning, sending clothes, garbage and even drainpipes flying.

The strong winds caused rubbish collectors particular headaches, with the gusts blowing bags of recycling left out for collection around as though they were lotto balls.

All across the island, morning motorists had to weave around grey recycling bags which ended up in the middle of roads, or risk ending up with plastic and paper waste caught beneath their chassis. 

This driver in Naxxar was one of many who ended up with a garbage bag caught beneath their car.

A Times of Malta reader spotted underwear, socks and t-shirts swirling around a residential street in Qormi – presumably a load of washing blown off its clothes line.

Another reader in Sliema was even less fortunate.

“A temporary water pipe I’ve just had installed has crashed down to the ground,” he said.

People in Naxxar, Mosta and Għargħur were left without electricity due to a localised fault. Power would be restored to Naxxar well before noon, an Enemalta representative told Times of Malta. Problems in Għargħur would take slightly longer to resolve, they added.

Two weeks after the storm

The northwesterly gusts, which prompted a Monday night gale warning from the Malta International Airport’s weather station, come just two weeks after Malta experienced its worst storm in a generation.

On that occasion, winds blew in from the northeast, causing mariners with boats docked at Malta’s many NE-facing harbours several headaches.

Northwesterly winds are less troublesome to docked boats, although meteorologists warned seafarers to expect very rough seas and Virtu Ferries amended their Malta-Sicily catamaran schedule due to unfavourable sea conditions. At the time of writing, Gozo Channel services were operating as normal.

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